Gallery>> Car Style At Mooneyes Party Pt.1

As promised, here are more photos from the Mooneyes Christmas Party at Irwindale… it has been tough trying to process these photos quickly, because every day since the Mooneyes event at Irwindale, I've had all day photo shoots. Today I have another car to shoot while we have a short break from the rain! Whew things are busy right now!

I absolutely love the style and patina of the super low suicide rod above… from the cream colored paint to the combination of surface rust and cool pinstriping on the rear trunk lid; to the upside-down teardrop shaped taillights; to the small aluminum trunk latches; to the old school rusty yellow license plate; to the low cut "straight glass" front window and dash-mounted rearview mirror; to the fully exposed wheels and whitewall tires; to the "Scrapers So Cal" plaque, which proudly represents the owner's car crew… but the best thing I love about this car is how effing low to the ground this thing is!!! SICK!!!!!! Big respect to the owner of this car, and the rest of the Scrapers crew… what an awesome name for a car club! Look at the passenger's Scrapers jacket! Sick! If that's not gangster, I don't know what is!

I can totally imagine myself cruising around in Southern Cali with a car like this. I just don't know where I could drive it! This thing definitely won't clear speedbumps! Haha, I love it.

During the day of the event, showgoers were treated to a deep ominous sky, and deep sinhy paint jobs on cars like these Mercury lead sleds. While I don't honestly know too much about these cars, I'd love to learn more about them. I remember seeing a cool chop top Mercury in the Gone in 60 Seconds movie (the second one; the Nicolas Cage version), and that initially sparked my interest. I'm sure a lot of people enjoyed seeing flames jump out of the tailpipes of the car. While I'm a big fan of flames coming out of car exhausts, I'm honeslty not a huge fan of flames painted on to cars. However, I think the red/white pinstriped flames on this satin black Merc look outstanding! Super cool, especially with the matching red trim around the wheels. This car looks awesome. Just try not to drive one of these Mercs with one of those button up polyester collar shirts with flames on the bottom, LOL!

So… while talking to Rod (the Speedhunters team's number one hot rod enthusiast) on the phone today, I asked him, "so why do they call them lead sleds, anyway?" Rod said that back in the day, when people used to do bodywork on these cars, they didn't use bondo to fill-in and smooth the bodywork, they used lead. Ohhhh. It all makes sense now. These cars are low to the ground and filled with lead! No wonder they call them lead sleds!

Although I didn't like the styling of every single car going down the dragstrip (like I said, the majority of the cool custom and/or rat rods were found in the parking lot), I thought this car looked super cool, with its vintage hued paint and sparse sticker placement – of course, laying down big smoke at the drag strip doesn't hurt the cool look of the car! I'm not exactly sure what kind of car it is, maybe some of our readers might be able to help me verify the make of this vehicle… Dodge Coronet maybe? (Mike G is a Mopar fan, I'm sure he can tell me if it's a Dodge or not) The only think I'm sure of is the wheels – Weld Drag Lites.

I have no idea what kind of car this is either – let's just talk about the style real quickly. I like the fact that the exhaust pipes are sticking up so high; it looks pretty cool. However, I personally think the big red front grill is a bit of overkill. The nicely done pinstriping on the front (and the red trim on the front wheels) would stick out more noticeably if that grill wasn't so in-your-face red.

Come to think about it… what do you guys think about running negative cambered front wheels on rat rods? Do people do that? I didn't notice it on any of the cars I saw at the show, so maybe it's not the "in thing" to do in this scene.

I really love the vintage wheels on this car. Don't they look soo cool? Looks like they're just attached by a center lug – I don't see any lugnuts there. Or front brakes! Old school vintage draggers didn't use front brakes, says Rod… man, that sounds pretty dangerous, especially if you like to drive with your foot to the floor!

Not too sure if I like the grill on this car either  – the chrome and the holes look like a bit too much for my personal taste. However, I can understand why the owner of the car did it –  to tie together the theme, which also includes these "lightening holes" on the sunvisor to the front of the windshield and the side windows. Speaking of side windows, notice they're blue? Apparently it was a styling cue from the 1960s… back then, it was considered super cool to run colored windows on your car. Back in those days, people used to replace their windows with colored plexiglas! BTW, Rod mentioned that this car has a nailhead engine from a Buick, which is noticeable because of the vertically oriented valve covers. I'm learning something new every day over here!

Anyone know what this burgundy pickup truck this is? (Damn it, I'm sorry I don't have info on all the cars – my specialty is Japanese cars! However, I'm very interested in leanring about this scene now… this event has definitely piqued my interest in super low rat rods and custom cars!)

Rat rod from Arizona… looks super narrow and tall. Apparently this is a high boy? Speaking to my friend Christian from So Cal Speedshop, he was pointing out some cars at the show when I walked with him briefly… high boy refers to cars with bodies that sit above the frame, and low boys are cars that sit BELOW the frame. Hell yeah, let's find us some more lowboy rat rods! Love those!

I thought this vintage dragster looked pretty cool – Rod mentioned that it looked like an "altered," which refers to dragsters that have their wheelbases altered. Back in the day, people would move the wheelbases of the cars forward for more traction. Well it sure as hell doesn't look like a normal wheel base car to me! Dig the huge Goodyear slicks!

This "proper" period correct looking vintage dragster apparently has a track style bumper. It looks like a Jabbawockee wearing a football helmet to me, makes me think of the NFL Sunday Report! You can also spot the period-style of this vintage dragster by noticing the single hoop rollcage! I don't think that thing offers much protection at all! My favorite part of this car was the flat, wooden "racing seat" with vintage stickers all over it. More on that later.

I don't know what this last car is, it looked really cool though… can someone help out here? Excuse my ignorance! LOL This must have been my least "information filled" story on Speedhunters for the entire year! I admit I still don't know much about these cars, but now that I've experienced how cool events like this can be, I'm looking forward to going to more events like the Mooneyes Christmas Party and learning a LOT more about the cars over here! Especially the super slammed, low to the ground rat rods!!! Hell yea!

-Antonio Alvendia

MORE Speedhunters coverage from the Mooneyes 2008 events!

ADVERTISEMENT

Comments



Comments are closed.

16 comments

by Oldest
by Best by Newest by Oldest
1

your right on the first car, its a 65' coronet, and the last one...im not sure..its on the tip of my tongue..reminds me of either a nova, or a rambler? im not sure. great pics, looking forward to more.

3

I loved your coverage. It is cool to hear and see coverage from someone not in the scene. If you really dig these "rat rods" log on to jalopyjournal.com and check out the H.A.M.B. The black Merc with flames belongs to a guy on there with the name of Bad Bob.



I believe that the last picture is a 60-70's Ford Falcon but I am not sure.



Thanks a lot for the coverage!

4

sorry to say this joe but your wrong. the car is a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere or a GTX. i own a 66 Coronet and i know the cars inside and out. The Coronets from 1966 are not looked up to as much as thr Plymouth and later Coronets. 1967 was the frist year for the R/T and only the Coronet had it. The only thing is that evey one that is not a die hard MOPAR fan like me think they are Chargers. They are almost the same car the only differents is that the Chargers were fast backs.The last car is a 63 or 64 Ford Farlane i think? I do know it is a 63 or 64 Ford. I hope that this helps hay not bad for a 22 year old kid from Michigan. And hey Rod I thought of you when i saw this. In this mouth issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines they had a small thing on so of the american muscle cars that ran in the IMSA GT calls. like always keep up the KICK ASS work guys.

5

lol Antonio.



I'm the same.



I love them, but I don't know what the hell they are!

6

shut up about your camber already

7

I think the suspension design on these cars would make negative camber pretty tough even if they wanted to.

8

I agree Mike, which is why it would be dope if someone made working suspension with negative front camber on one of these cars! hell yeah!!!

9

hemirunner said everything! and yes it is a farlane

10

thanks a lot for helping, everyone who posted! and damn, it sounds like you have all the info, hemirunner! thanks a lot for clearing that stuff up!

11

Antonio!



Thanks for the shout out... My friend you have a lot to learn but I love that you have a real interest in Hot Rods. Rod really impressed me with his knowledge when we met and talked cars. Anyway, hemirunner knows his shit for a 22 year old from Michigan and he's right about the Plymouth and the Ford. I love those 64 Fairlanes.



That flamed Merc does belong to Bad Bob and he is very active on the HAMB, he also throws a HAMB-B-Q in Whittier Narrows Park in El Monte that draws some sick kustoms and hot rods. I'll hit you up on the next one if you want to take more more hot rod photos. That car is too cool.



Picture #4 looks like a '34 or '36 Dodge P/U... I don't care for it at all. But like I told you, I don't like rat rods, I like traditional hot rods and that truck is not traditional at all. It's also not a Ford. Eck! ha ha ha That thing is a mess. Sorry if I offend anyone that likes it. Negative Camber is probably more used on higher end hot rods like the ones that Chip Foose builds. Tthese cars at the mooneyes show are mainly using vintage parts that wouldn't handle well with a negative camber. Did you like that '69 Toyota Carolla in the background? the one done up like a '50s Kustom



The Model A in picture 5 is the shit, minus the grill. I don't like that either



That burgundy p/u you like so much is a Low Rider, ha ha ha. I believe it's a 1946 Chevy or GMC. I don't know too much about the trucks but I think I'm right about the year and make. The pin striping that was going on in the back of the truck that day was pretty cheesy but the truck is clean.



Jabbawockeez? Are you talking about the pinoy dance crew? Mabuhay!



Excellent coverage Antonio. Your photos continue to impress me.

12

Any more pics or info of the first car? I love it.

13

That truck is a '54 Chevy and I believe that last pic is either a '63 or '64 Ford Fairlane or Galaxie 500.

I agree I think it would be cool to see negative camber on a hotrod, I don't think it's ever been done.

14

Negative camber for these cars would look sick, but it would be completely pointless since none of them do any circuit racing. Since I'm guessin if any of them ever did race, it would only be drag racing in which case you would want the rear wheels to have 0 and the front wheels as little rolling resistance as possible. but yea more pics of suicide rods and pin up girls

15

all those rods picture use a traditional beam front end. there is no way to adjust the KPI, except maybe cutting and re welding it.



but then a beam is also not independant, so i dont know how well normal suspension theory is gonna apply to that....



but anyway, thats why theres no camber.

16

The last car is a 1962 ford fairlane

OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS